A New Way Of Thinking Series

Attitude, A New Way Of Thinking

Money Matters – part one

Pink Floyd Video…

Luke chapter 12 opens up with these words…

Meanwhile,

the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. – Luke 12:1,2

13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. 14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?"

15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked….

– Lk 12:48

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' 18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. - Luke 12:13-20

This morning we’re kicking off a brand new message series. It’s a 4 part series called “Money Matters…”

QUESTION – how does the topic for this series, Money Matters’ make you feel?

• Anxious

• Nervous

• Defensive, afraid, uncomfortable…

• Does it make you wish you stayed home… I MEAN – what a day to come to church, right.

In an article called, ‘The Energy Of Money,’ Maria Nemeth writes;

Money is an uncomfortable subject for most of us. Many people would rather talk about their sex lives than about their bank balance. We love money, and we hate it. We can't live with it, and we can't live without it. Money can be a source of great joy and creativity, or it can bring frustration and misery, depending on our relationship with it.

And we bring all these doubts and fears, hopes and expectations with us every time we deal with money--not just when we visit a financial planner or a loan officer, but in every area of our lives.

Money touches almost every aspect of living: work, leisure time, creative activities, home, family, and spiritual pursuits. Everything we do and dream of is affected by our relationship with this powerful form of energy. Whether your dream is to travel around the world, pay for a house, establish a food bank, buy a Corvette, get out from under a mountain of debt, or take a year off to write a novel, that vision is intertwined with the possibilities and pitfalls bound up in the energy of money.

MAN – no wonder they gave Marie a PHD, she’s pretty smart… AND – she is dead on about the energy of money….

OKAY – let me tell you were we will be going the next few weeks in this series…

NOW – our conversations are going to center around 4 words… Attitude, Principles and Practices… and a formula.

11/19 “Attitude, A New Way Of Thinking”

11/26 “Principles, The Essential Foundation”

12/03 “Practices, The Necessary Choices”

12/10 “Practices, The Necessary Choices, part 2”

attitude + principles + practices = freed up financially

AND – what are the principles?

4 Principles: Gratitude – Contentment – Trust – Humility

4 Practices: Debt Free Living – Budgeting – Saving – Giving

NOW – I got to be honest…

When it comes to this series, I am approaching it with 2 pretty strong emotions…

ONE EMOTION – is excitement…

The reason I’m so excited about this series is because it’s not a series on Tithing. We’re not just going to focus on the 10% that’s certainly part of the series, I mean that’s a given if you’re a Christian. Giving 10% in the offering is a command of Scripture and none of us should rob God.

But during the next few weeks I’m going to be focusing more on 100%. Our spending, Giving, Contentment, Debt, and saving for our future.

In early January…

THE SECOND EMOTION… is intimidation.

attitude + principles + practices = freed up financially